Automatic expansion and derivative tagging

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are provided for automatically generating expanded and derivative tags associated with digital content. The methods and systems provide multi-dimensional, layered tagging with stored audio/video conference contents, creating relationships and a tag network between links and nodes in a communication system.

FIELD

The present disclosure is generally directed to multi-partycommunications, in particular, toward conferences established betweencommunication devices of users.

BACKGROUND

Conferencing, and in particular web-conferencing, includes a range ofcommunication services. These communication services can include,meetings, seminars, educational broadcasts, collaborative communicationsessions, and/or other communications that are established betweencommunication devices across a network. Given the sheer number ofcommunications involved and information exchanged in conferencing,organizing and managing the data associated with multi-partycommunication sessions can be a cumbersome and tedious manual task.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a communication system in accordancewith at least some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting components of a server used in acommunication system in accordance with at least some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting an information tagging userinterface in accordance with at least some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram depicting an information tag data structureused in accordance with at least some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram depicting a tag relationship data structureused in accordance with at least some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram depicting a tag network user interface inaccordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram depicting a method of automatically generatingtags in accordance with at least some embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram depicting a first method of expanding tagsassociated with communication information in accordance with at leastsome embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram depicting a second method of expanding tagsassociated with communication information in accordance with at leastsome embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in connectionwith the execution of a communication management system. Thecommunication management system may be configured to managecommunications between one or more communication devices. In some cases,the system may establish multi-party meetings, or conferences, betweenmultiple communication devices across a communication network.Conferences include information relating to the conference itself,participants involved, participants invited, relationships ofparticipants to one another, relationships of participants in anorganization, topics scheduled, topics discussed, action items, mediauploaded, and/or other information.

Tags have been used to mark digital content in an effort to locatespecific content for later review, reference, and to be addressed at alater date. Today, tagging is used in audio/video conference calls toidentify people, categories, and/or other important data that can beused as reference points.

Tagging, unfortunately, has some of the same limitations as theaudio/video conference itself. While tags make it easier to find thereference points, the audio/video conference participants still have tomanually mark and create associations for follow-up.

Embodiments of the present disclosure solves these and other issues byproviding automatic expansion and derivative tags for audio/videoconferences. These tags may be used to generate or create a tag network.Expansion tags and derivative tags can be triggered automatically andprovide multi-dimensional, layered tagging with stored audio/videoconference contents, creating relationships between audio/videoconferences.

Tagging may be performed manually, automatically, and/or combinationsthereof. In one embodiment, the tagging may be used in advanced audiocoding (“AAC”) to allow recordings to be searched and enable theretrieval of recordings pertinent to a search query.

In some embodiments, the problems of conventional tagging are solved bythe systems and methods described herein. For instance, the presentdisclosure automatically expands tags and provides derivative tags thatcan be used to create a tag network for audio/video conferences. Whentags are automatically expanded and derivative tags are provided,audio/video conferences become multi-dimensional. The tag expansion andderivation provide a rich network of references and relationships. Inaddition to tags, which label points/spans in time, sets of other tags,and/or concepts expressed during a conference, a new set of tags can beprovided automatically, which can lead to additional, complex tagging.

For example, “factory production in China” might initiate a scan anddetection of other commonly related tags from previous meetings. Thesystems and methods described herein can automatically tag derivativeslike “environment” and “pollution” as well as create a derivativenetwork of meeting references. The network may be composed of tags thatinclude people's names, locations, keywords, associated topics, etc.

Tags may refer to objects, or entities, such as people, locations,technologies, and projects. The references can enable a tag network tobe built where an entity tag may be connected to several tags that referto the entity. The entity tag may also have a hierarchical and/orcomposite structure. For instance, a location tag may consist of severalbuilding tags, each of which may contain several room tags. Anorganization tag may contain department tags which may contain peopletags. Entity tags can be linked to user contributions and automatic tagscan be attached to content such as audio, video, digital and otherreference material. Additionally or alternatively, tags may refer to, orbe associated with, other objects such as products, events, timing,phrases, groups, etc.

In some embodiments, the tag network can allow inference ofrelationships between content and entities. For example, the tag networkmay enable a way to determine how a similar a set of recordings is toanother set of recordings by the number of entity tags in common or theshortest distance between the recordings in the tag network.Similarities between entity tags may be inferred by the number of commonrecordings to which they refer.

A number of methods may be used to facilitate tag expansion. Forinstance, tag expansion may include the use of one or more ontologies toexpand tags. In some embodiments, the ontology may define a categoryand/or a nature of a tag or object. Whether used in reference to a tagor object, the ontology can include, but is in no way limited to,alternative meanings, relationships, context of use, an existence of theobject or tag in a particular context or environment, and/or otherexpanded information relating to the object or tag. In one embodiment,standard language ontologies may be used to expand commonly used termswith their components (e.g., tagging part of a conversation with“airline” may expand to include “airport, travel, flights, luggage,etc.”). In one embodiment, domain, company, or entity-specificontologies may be used to expand based on the specifics of the business(e.g., tagging part of a conversation with “Avaya Call Center Product”may expand to include related or complementary products/features like“AACC, IC, EMC, etc.”). In one embodiment, tag expansion may beperformed based on entity/company/domain structure and relationships(e.g., a conference tagged with “summer promotion” might be expanded toinclude “marketing and sales” which might further be expanded to includespecific regional teams).

In some embodiments, the tag expansion may include the repetitivediscovery of derivative information via recursive tag expansion. Forinstance, once a tag is expanded to include one or more expanded tags,the expanded tags may be further expanded by continuing to apply the tagexpansion methods disclosed herein to further expand the expanded tags.In one embodiment, an initial tag may be expanded to yield a first setof expanded tags. The first set of expanded tags may then be expanded toyield a second set of expanded tags. This second set of expanded tagsmay appear unrelated to the initial tag but the second set of expandedtags are directly related to the first set of expanded tags, and assuch, may define a relationship (e.g., in a tag network, etc.) to theinitial tag as well as the first set of expanded tags. In oneembodiment, the second set of expanded tags may be further expanded toproduce a third set of expanded tags. It is anticipated that thisrecursive tag expansion may continue any number of times. In some cases,the number of times or recursive iterations may be limited based on oneor more of results generated, administrative settings, number ofexpanded tags generated at each iteration (e.g., when too few, too many,above or below a threshold, etc.), predetermined iteration number, etc.

It is an aspect of the present disclosure that external systems may beaccessed to expand tags. For instance, the tag expansion may rely onsystems other than the recordings (e.g., meeting, conference, digitalmedia, etc.), or content of the recordings, to facilitate the expansion.For example, the tag “Follow up on printing report, John” may involveexpanding John to a complete name (first name, last name). Thisexpansion may be based on a meeting invitation sent from a personalinformation manager, email client, and/or scheduler (e.g., an invitationsent from Microsoft® Outlook, etc.). The tag expansion may then involvea lookup into an enterprise directory to get information for John suchas his email, location, organization etc. A lookup for the organizationmay provide organizational context such as who is John's supervisor,what is John's role at the organization, and/or other entity-specificinformation. Additionally or alternatively, a lookup for a location tagmay cause the system described herein to access a map provider (such asGoogle Maps, etc.) to provide location context. As can be appreciated,the tag “Follow up on printing report, John” can be expanded using themethods and systems described herein to expand the tag into a network oftags. This network of tags, among other things, can be used to send anemail reminder to John and/or a copy of the email reminder to John'ssupervisor. The location context may also be used to show John localservices that he commonly uses and the state of the local services(e.g., printing/copying and available/down/busy).

The scenario described above shows that a conversation/meeting can beintegrated with other systems through a tag network that enables peopleto be productive through tasks automatically entered into a calendar andteam collaboration spaces, reminders being sent to actors who were notdirectly associated with the original tag, and integration with services(location, commercial services) to assist a user.

In some embodiments, the tag expansion methods may lookup enterprisedirectories, email servers, Google Maps, social networks, and/or otherapplications through various application programming interfaces(“APIs”). This approach makes the tag expansion and derivation methodsand systems described herein a feature rich experience and not justlooking at the tags that are (1) contributed by users, or (2) extractedfrom the content of conversations. As can be appreciated, the methodsand systems described herein provide richer tag context as well asenabling applications to do more with an expanded tag network.Additionally or alternatively, the extent of how much a tag is, or canbe, expanded may also be configured by the needs of a consumingapplication.

Embodiments include a communication system, comprising: a server,comprising: a microprocessor; a computer readable medium, coupled to themicroprocessor and comprising instructions stored thereon that cause themicroprocessor to: determine that a tag is associated with digital mediacontent; determine a definition of the tag including a type and meaningof the tag; select, from a repository of expanded tag definitions andusing the definition of the tag, an expanded tag definition for the tagcomprising information for expanding search criteria related to the tagor the digital media content; and associating the expanded tagdefinition with the tag and the digital media content.

Aspects of the above communication system include a network interfacethat enables the microprocessor to present the expanded tag definitionto a communication device in the communication system. Aspects of theabove communication system include wherein the tag identifiesinformation relevant to the digital media content at particular time ofthe digital media content. Aspects of the above communication systeminclude wherein the particular time of the digital media content is aparticular time of a presentation of the digital media content. Aspectsof the above communication system include wherein the microprocessorreceives expanded tag definitions from a tag expansion data source via adatabase interface that is communicatively coupled with the server.Aspects of the above communication system include wherein the tagexpansion data source is an organization-internal data source owned andmanaged by an organization providing the digital media content andcomprises private data that is unavailable to entities outside of theorganization. Aspects of the above communication system include whereinthe tag expansion data source is an organization-external data sourceowned and managed by an entity other than an organization providing thedigital media content and comprises public data that is available todevices inside and outside of the organization. Aspects of the abovecommunication system include wherein the tag expansion data source isone or more of an organization-specific member list, anorganization-specific email client, an organization-specific calendar,or a private vocabulary repository hosted by the organization. Aspectsof the above communication system include wherein the tag expansion datasource is one or more of a social network site, a search engine site, ageographical map site, or a public website. Aspects of the abovecommunication system include wherein determining the definition of thetag further causes the microprocessor to: select a particular expansionontology from a group of expansion ontologies stored in a memory,wherein the group of expansion ontologies comprises two or more of acontent-based ontology, an entity-specific ontology, or a domainstructure ontology, wherein the content-based ontology includesinstruction sets that cause the microprocessor to access a storedvocabulary database of commonly-used words associated with the tag,wherein the entity-specific ontology includes instruction sets thatcause the microprocessor to access a stored entity-specific relationaldatabase of commonly-used words that are associated with the tag andrelated to a particular entity or company, wherein the domain structureontology includes instruction sets that cause the microprocessor toaccess a stored domain relationship structure ontology database of wordsthat define relationships between entities in a private domain and thetag; analyze information about the tag based on the selected expansionontology; and generate the type and meaning of the tag based on theanalysis of the information about the tag.

Embodiments include a method, comprising: receiving, at a processor, atag associated with digital media content; determining, via theprocessor, a definition of the tag including a type and meaning of thetag; selecting, via the processor and using the definition of the tag,an expanded tag definition for the tag from a repository of expanded tagdefinitions, wherein the expanded tag definition comprises informationfor expanding search criteria related to the tag or the digital mediacontent; and associating, via the processor, the expanded tag definitionwith one or more of the tag or the digital media content.

Aspects of the above method include wherein the tag identifiesinformation relevant to the digital media content at particular time ofthe digital media content. Aspects of the above method include whereinthe particular time of the digital media content is a particular time ofa presentation of the digital media content. Aspects of the above methodinclude determining, via the processor, to further expand the tag byexpanding the expanded tag definition; selecting, via the processor andusing the expanded tag definition, a derivative expanded tag definitionfor the expanded tag definition from the repository of expanded tagdefinitions, wherein the derivative expanded tag definition comprisesinformation for expanding search criteria related to one or more of thetag, the expanded tag definition, or the digital media content; andassociating, via the processor, the derivative expanded tag definitionwith one or more of the tag, the expanded tag definition, or the digitalmedia content. Aspects of the above method include wherein the expandedtag definition comprises at least one expanded tag. Aspects of the abovemethod include, prior to selecting the expanded tag definition,receiving, via the processor, the expanded tag definitions from a tagexpansion data source across a communication network. Aspects of theabove method include generating, via the processor, a tag network basedon the tag and the expanded tag, wherein the tag network defines arelationship between the tag, the expanded tag, and one or more of othertags, the digital media content, or other digital media content, andwherein the tag network is configured for rendering as a graphical userinterface to a display of a communication device. Aspects of the abovemethod include wherein the graphical user interface presents therelationship between the tag, the expanded tag, and one or more of othertags, the digital media content, or other digital media content as oneor more graphical links between nodes. Aspects of the above methodinclude wherein the tag expansion data source is anorganization-internal data source owned and managed by an organizationproviding the digital media content and comprises private data that isunavailable to entities outside of the organization. Aspects of theabove method include wherein the tag expansion data source is anorganization-external data source owned and managed by an entity otherthan an organization providing the digital media content and comprisespublic data that is available to devices inside and outside of theorganization. Aspects of the above method include wherein the tagexpansion data source is one or more of an organization-specific memberlist, an organization-specific email client, an organization-specificcalendar, or a private vocabulary repository hosted by the organization.Aspects of the above method include wherein the tag expansion datasource is one or more of a social network site, a search engine site, ageographical map site, or a public website. Aspects of the above methodinclude wherein determining the definition of the tag comprisesselecting, via the processor, a particular expansion ontology from agroup of expansion ontologies stored in a memory, wherein the group ofexpansion ontologies comprises two or more of a content-based ontology,an entity-specific ontology, or a domain structure ontology, wherein thecontent-based ontology includes instruction sets that cause theprocessor to access a stored vocabulary database of commonly-used wordsassociated with the tag, wherein the entity-specific ontology includesinstruction sets that cause the processor to access a storedentity-specific relational database of commonly-used words that areassociated with the tag and related to a particular entity or company,wherein the domain structure ontology includes instruction sets thatcause the processor to access a stored domain relationship structureontology database of words that define relationships between entities ina private domain and the tag; analyzing, via the processor, informationabout the tag based on the selected expansion ontology; and generating,via the processor, the type and meaning of the tag based on the analysisof the information about the tag.

Embodiments include a server, comprising: a processor; and acomputer-readable medium, coupled with the processor, thecomputer-readable medium comprising instruction sets that are executableby the processor, wherein the instruction sets cause the processor to:analyze digital media content for tag information; determine a tag isgenerated for a portion of the digital media content, wherein the tagcomprises information relevant to a recorded content time of the digitalmedia content; automatically determine a definition of the tag, whereinthe definition includes a type and meaning of the tag; select,automatically from a set of expanded tags received from an expanded tagdata source and using the definition of the tag, an expanded tagcomprising an expanded definition for the tag, wherein the expanded tagdefinition comprises information for expanding search criteria relatedto the tag or the digital media content; and associate the expanded tagwith the tag and the digital media content by storing the expanded tag,a representation of the expanded tag, and/or a pointer to the expandedtag with the tag and the digital media content.

Aspects of the above server include wherein automatically determiningthe definition of the tag further causes the processor to: select aparticular expansion ontology from a group of expansion ontologiesstored in a memory, wherein the group of expansion ontologies comprisestwo or more of a content-based ontology, an entity-specific ontology, ora domain structure ontology, wherein the content-based ontology includesinstruction sets that cause the processor to access a stored vocabularydatabase of commonly-used words associated with the tag, wherein theentity-specific ontology includes instruction sets that cause theprocessor to access a stored entity-specific relational database ofcommonly-used words that are associated with the tag and related to aparticular entity or company, wherein the domain structure ontologyincludes instruction sets that cause the processor to access a storeddomain relationship structure ontology database of words that definerelationships between entities in a private domain and the tag; analyzeinformation about the tag based on the selected expansion ontology; andgenerate the type and meaning of the tag based on the analysis of theinformation about the tag.

Referring to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a communication system 100 isshown in accordance with at least some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The communication system 100 of FIG. 1 may be a distributedsystem and, in some embodiments, comprises a communication network 104connecting communication devices 108 with a communication managementserver 112. The communication system 100 may include, but is not limitedto, a tag management server 132 and a number of data sources 144, 152.In one embodiment, communication devices 108 may be communicativelyconnected to a conference service 116 of the communication managementserver 112. For example, the conference service 116 may providemulti-party calls, web-based conferencing, web-based seminar(“webinar”), and/or other audio/video communication services. In anyevent, the multi-party calls can include two, three, four, or morecommunication devices 108 that access the conference service 116 via acommunication network 104.

In accordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure,the communication network 104 may comprise any type of knowncommunication medium or collection of communication media and may useany type of protocols to transport messages between endpoints. Thecommunication network 104 may include wired and/or wirelesscommunication technologies. The Internet is an example of thecommunication network 104 that constitutes an Internet Protocol (IP)network consisting of many computers, computing networks, and othercommunication devices located all over the world, which are connectedthrough many telephone systems and other means. Other examples of thecommunication network 104 include, without limitation, a standard PlainOld Telephone System (POTS), an Integrated Services Digital Network(ISDN), the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a Local AreaNetwork (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP) network, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) network, a cellularnetwork, and any other type of packet-switched or circuit-switchednetwork known in the art. In addition, it can be appreciated that thecommunication network 104 need not be limited to any one network type,and instead may be comprised of a number of different networks and/ornetwork types. The communication network 104 may comprise a number ofdifferent communication media such as coaxial cable, copper cable/wire,fiber-optic cable, antennas for transmitting/receiving wirelessmessages, and combinations thereof.

The communication devices 108 may correspond to at least one of a smartphone, tablet, personal computer, and/or some other computing device.Each communication device 108 may be configured with an operating system(“OS”) and at least one communication application. The communicationapplication may be configured to exchange communications between thecommunication device 108 and another entity (e.g., a communicationmanagement server 112, another communication device 108, etc.) acrossthe communication network 104. Additionally or alternatively,communications may be sent and/or received via the communication device108 as a telephone call, a packet or collection of packets (e.g., IPpackets transmitted over an IP network), an email message, an instantmessage (“IM”), an SMS message, an MIMS message, a chat, and/orcombinations thereof. In some embodiments, the communication device 108may be associated with one or more users in the communication system100.

The communication management server 112 may include hardware and/orsoftware resources that, among other things, provides the ability tohold multi-party calls, conference calls, and/or other collaborativecommunications. The communication management server 112 may include aconference service 112, conference data memory 120, a tag applicationmodule 124, and conference and tag information memory 128 to name a few.

In some embodiments, the conferencing service 116 may be included in thecommunication management server 112 and/or as a separate service orsystem of components apart from the communication management server 112in the communication system 100. In any event, the conferencing service116 provides conferencing resources that can allow two or morecommunication devices 108 to participate in a multi-party call. Oneexample of a multi-party call includes, but is not limited to, aperson-to-person call, a conference call between two or moreusers/parties, webinars, collaborative meetings, and the like. Althoughsome embodiments of the present disclosure are discussed in connectionwith multi-party calls, embodiments of the present disclosure are not solimited. Specifically, the embodiments disclosed herein may be appliedto one or more of audio, video, multimedia, conference calls, webconferences, and the like.

In some embodiments, the conferencing service 116 can include one ormore resources such as conference mixers and other conferencinginfrastructure. As can be appreciated, the resources of the conferencingservice 116 may depend on the type of multi-party call provided by theconferencing service 116. Among other things, the conferencing service116 may be configured to provide conferencing of at least one media typebetween any number of participants. The conference mixer of theconferencing service 116 may be assigned to a particular multi-partycall for a predetermined amount of time. In one embodiment, theconference mixer may be configured to negotiate codecs with eachcommunication device 108 participating in a multi-party call.Additionally or alternatively, the conference mixer may be configured toreceive inputs (at least including audio inputs) from each participatingcommunication device 108 and mix the received inputs into a combinedsignal which can be monitored and/or analyzed by the communicationmanagement server 112 and/or a tag management server 132.

The conference data memory 120 may include presentations, slides,documents, participant information, uploaded information, participantinformation, invitation information, and/or other information accessedby the conferencing service 116 and/or the communication managementserver 112. For instance, a meeting host may upload a presentationand/or other digital files to the conference data memory 120 of theserver 116 prior to, or during, a meeting. Continuing this example, thehost may access the one or more files contained in the memory 120 forpresentation to an audio/video output of one or more communicationdevices 108 of other participants in the conference.

In some embodiments, the communication management server 112 may includea tag application module 124. The tag application module 124 may analyzeconference information to derive and/or generate tags. This generationmay include the automatic generation of tags based on informationassociated with the conference. In one embodiment, the tag applicationmodule 124 may provide an application programming interface for a tagmanagement server 132 to analyze the conference information and/orgenerate tags. It is an aspect of the present disclosure that the tagapplication module 124 and/or the tag management server 132 can storegenerated tags in the conference and tag information memory 128.

The tag management server 132 may be used to monitor and/or analyzeconference information associated with the communications ofconferences, digital media, participants, etc. In some embodiments, thetag management server 132 may perform the methods as described hereinand in conjunction with FIGS. 1-9. For instance, the tag managementserver 132 may analyze audio and/or video content associated with aconference. Additionally or alternatively, the tag management server 132may analyze information associated with conference participants,locations, organizers, invitees, topics, schedules, other conferences,and/or other information. The tag management server 132 may refer to oneor more sources 136, 144, 152 for information in expanding generatedtags (e.g., tags associated with the objects described above, etc.).These sources 136, 144, 152 may include a tag vocabulary 136 (e.g.,language ontology, etc.), organization-external sources 144 (e.g.,sources external to an organization holding the conference, etc.),and/or organization-internal sources 152, such as domain, company orentity-specific sources (e.g., those information sources available to anorganization and not available to the public, or entities outside of theorganization, etc.). The organization-external sources 144 maycorrespond to a number of different sources 148A-N, such as a socialnetwork site (e.g., Facebook®, LinkedIn®, etc.) a data site (e.g.,Google Maps, Google, Yahoo, search engines, etc.), an externalorganization, and/or some other site that is external to an organizationassociated with the conference. The organization-internal sources 152may correspond to a number of different sources 156A-N, such as acompany database, an organizational structure, an address source, acalendar source, and/or some other source of information that isinternal (e.g., private, not public, etc.) to an organization associatedwith the conference. Analyzed and/or expanded tags may be stored in amanaged tags memory 140. The managed tags memory 140 may be accessed byone or more communication devices 108, servers 112, and/or otherentities. This access may be protected or governed by one or morepermission, authorization, and/or authentication protocols.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting components of a server 112, or a tagmanagement server 132, used in the communication system 100 inaccordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure. Thetag management server 132 is shown to include a computer memory 204 thatstores one or more instruction sets, applications, or modules,potentially in the form of a tag generation module 208, a tag contextmodule 212, and/or a speech recognition engine 216. Although not shown,the tag management server 132 may further include other components ofthe various servers depicted in FIG. 1 including, without limitation,the communication management server 112. In other words, the tagmanagement server 132 may be configured as a server, or part of aserver, that includes any or all of the components of the communicationsystem 100 depicted in FIG. 1. The tag management server 132 is alsoshown to include one or more drivers 220, a network interface 224, apower module 228, a processor 232, an audio input/output (“I/O”), and avideo I/O.

The memory 204 may correspond to any type of non-transitorycomputer-readable medium. In some embodiments, the memory 204 maycomprise volatile or non-volatile memory and a controller for the same.Non-limiting examples of memory 204 that may be utilized in the tagmanagement server 132 include RAM, ROM, buffer memory, flash memory,solid-state memory, or variants thereof. Any of these memory types maybe considered non-transitory computer memory devices even though thedata stored thereby can be changed one or more times.

The applications/instructions 208, 212, 216 may correspond to any typeof computer-readable instructions or files storable in the memory 204.The functionality of the tag generation module 208, tag context module212, and/or the speech recognition engine 216, may be similar oridentical to the functionality provided by the tag application module124. The tag generation module 208 may receive information from thecommunication management server 112 and analyze the information for tagdata, objects, and/or tag generation data. In some embodiments, the taggeneration module 208 may communicate with one or more sources 136, 144,152 via the network interface 224 of the tag management server 132 togenerate tags or expanded tags. In one embodiment, the tag generationmodule 208 may operate with the speech recognition engine 216 to detectdifferences and/or similarities in audio content. For instance, thespeech recognition engine 216 may monitor and/or analyze audioinformation for keywords, phrases, names, spoken information, and/orother audible information. This information may then be analyzed by thetag generation module 208 to determine whether a tag should be generatedor expanded. In some cases, the tag generation module 208 may refer to atag vocabulary memory 136 containing known expansion terms forgenerating an expanded tag. The tag context module 212 may analyzecontextual information about tags and/or objects of a conference. Forinstance, the tag context module 212 may analyze information associatedwith a tag and/or object to determine whether a tag should be expandedor derived from the information received by the tag management server132. Context, in this sense, may correspond to the time of the tag,location of meeting, associated communication devices 108, participants,organizational members, invitation time, etc.

The driver(s) 220 may correspond to hardware, software, and/orcontrollers that provide specific instructions to hardware components ofthe tag management server 132, thereby facilitating their operation. Forinstance, the network interface 224, power module 228, audio I/O 236,video I/O 240, and/or memory 204 may each have a dedicated driver 220that provides appropriate control signals to effect their operation. Thedriver(s) 220 may also comprise the software or logic circuits thatensure the various hardware components are controlled appropriately andin accordance with desired protocols. For instance, the driver 220 ofthe network interface 224 may be adapted to ensure that the networkinterface 224 follows the appropriate network communication protocols(e.g., TCP/IP (at one or more layers in the OSI model), TCP, UDP, RTP,GSM, LTE, Wi-Fi, etc.) such that the network interface 224 can exchangecommunications via the communication network 104. As can be appreciated,the driver(s) 220 may also be configured to control wired hardwarecomponents (e.g., a USB driver, an Ethernet driver, fiber opticcommunications, etc.).

The network interface 224 may comprise hardware that facilitatescommunications with other communication devices over the communicationnetwork 104. As mentioned above, the network interface 224 may includean Ethernet port, a Wi-Fi card, a Network Interface Card (NIC), acellular interface (e.g., antenna, filters, and associated circuitry),or the like. The network interface 224 may be configured to facilitate aconnection between the tag management server 132 and the communicationnetwork 104 and may further be configured to encode and decodecommunications (e.g., packets) according to a protocol utilized by thecommunication network 104.

The power module 228 may include a built-in power supply (e.g., battery)and/or a power converter that facilitates the conversion ofexternally-supplied AC power into DC power that is used to power thevarious components of the tag management server 132. In someembodiments, the power module 228 may also include some implementationof surge protection circuitry to protect the components of the tagmanagement server 132, or associated server, from power surges.

The processor 232 may correspond to one or many microprocessors that arecontained within a common housing, circuit board, or blade with thememory 204. The processor 232 may be a multipurpose, programmable devicethat accepts digital data as input, processes the digital data accordingto instructions stored in its internal memory, and provides results asoutput. The processor 232 may implement sequential digital logic as ithas internal memory. As with most microprocessors, the processor 232 mayoperate on numbers and symbols represented in the binary numeral system.

The audio I/O interface 236 can be included to receive and transmitaudio information signals between the various components of the system100. By way of example, the audio I/O interface 236 may comprise one ormore of an associated amplifier and analog to digital converter.Alternatively or additionally, the audio I/O interface 236 may beconfigured to separate audio information from a media stream providedto, or received by, the tag management server 132. This information maybe separated in real-time, or as the information is received by the tagmanagement server 132.

The video I/O interface 240 can be included to receive and transmitvideo signals between the various components in the system 100.Optionally, the video I/O interface 240 can operate with compressed anduncompressed video signals. The video I/O interface 240 can support highdata rates associated with image capture devices. Additionally oralternatively, the video I/O interface 240 may convert analog videosignals to digital signals. Similar to the audio I/O interface 236, thevideo I/O interface 240 may be configured to separate video informationfrom a media stream provided to, or received by, the tag managementserver 132.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting an information tagging userinterface 300 in accordance with at least some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The user interface 300 may include a window 304 thatcan be presented to a display of a communication device 108 or server112. The window 304 may include identification information, applicationcontrols, and at least one viewing area. The viewing area of the window304 may be separated into a number of different areas 308, 320, 344. Inparticular, the window 304 may include a presentation interface area308, a tagging interface area 320, and a participant viewing area 344.

The presentation interface area 308 may include a display area 312. Thedisplay area 312 may be configured to present information pertinent tothe conference, participants, files, documents, etc. The display area312 may show recorded, live, or other presentations and/or videostreams. As shown in FIG. 3, the display area 312 includes a videostream with an image of a presenter 316A and a displayed presentation316B (e.g., an electronic presentation, slides, overhead projectedimages, etc.). In some embodiments, the display area 312 may show thepresenter 316A alone, the presentation 316B alone, or both the presenter316A and the presentation 316B together simultaneously. In oneembodiment, a display of the particular information shown in the displayarea 312 may be selectively controlled automatically, or via a host ormoderator of the conference. In the case of certain presentations and/orconferences (e.g., prerecorded, webinars, buffered presentations, etc.),the presentation interface area 308 may include playback controls, audiocontrols, video controls, and/or other content controls.

The tagging interface area 320 may provide a user interface to at leastone of view, search, add, and/or control the addition of generated tags.The tagging interface area 320 may include an automatic tag generationarea 324A and a manual tag entry area 324B. The automatic tag generationarea 324A may correspond to an area where automatically generated tagscan be viewed, endorsed, and/or selected. This area 324A may displaytags that automatically generated by the tag management server 132and/or tag application module 124. The automatically generated tags(e.g., A-Tag 1, A-Tag 2, etc.) may be dynamically displayed to a portion328 of the automatic tag generation area 324A. For instance, the tagsmay be generated and displayed as the presentation or conference isrunning. These displayed tags may be relevant to a time, topic, or otherobject associated with the presentation or conference as the conferenceis playing. As can be appreciated, a particular automatically generatedtag may be removed from the portion 328 when that particular tag hasbeen added (e.g., added to the conference information, a tag memory,and/or otherwise associated with the conference, an object of theconference, etc.). In some embodiments, a particular automaticallygenerated tag (e.g., A-Tag 1, etc.) may be highlighted, or otherwiseidentified, as being added. As shown in FIG. 3, this identification isshown by a thicker border surrounding displayed tag “A-Tag 1.”

In one embodiment, automatically generated tags may be presented to theautomatic tag generation area 324A for selection, endorsement, orverification by a user of, viewer of, or participant to, the conference.A functionality allowing user-selection/user-endorsement ofautomatically generated tags may be controlled via one or more radiobuttons or switches 332. Additionally or alternatively, thefunctionality (e.g., or access to these switches, etc.) may becontrolled by a host, moderator, or conference administrator. When the“Manual Add” radio button or switch is selected, a user may select oneor more tags from the displayed automatically generated tags in theportion 328 to associate the selected tags with the conference or objectinformation. In one embodiment, once one or more tags are selected auser may click or select the “Add” button 336 to add the tag.

The manual tag entry area 324B may provide an area where users, viewers,moderators, etc. can manually add tags to be associated with theconference or other object. The methods and systems described herein mayutilize a combination of manually added and automatically added tags todetermine whether a tag should be expanded to include addition tags orinformation. The manual tag entry area 324B shown in FIG. 3 includes acharacter entry area 340. The character entry area 340 may be used toenter words, phrases, names, characters, symbols, and/or other tags. Insome cases, a user may enter multiple tags via the character entry area340. Multiple entries may be delimited with one or more characters,symbols, etc. Once at least one manual tag is entered into the characterentry area 340 a user may click or select the “Add” button 336 to addthe tag.

The tagging user interface 300 may include a participant, host,moderator, viewer, and/or invited user area 344. This area 344 mayinclude one or more icons 348A-N including, but in no way limited to,symbols, video images, photographs, live video feeds, and/or avatarsassociated with one or more participants in the conference. As shown inFIG. 3, users P1-PN 348A-348N are shown as associated with or includedin the conference. In some cases, an icon 348D may represent an entity,group, or organization other than an individual that is included in orassociated with the conference. In some embodiments, the user area 344may dynamically change to include more or fewer participants as a groupchanges or a conference progresses, etc.

The user interface 300 may include one or more view switching buttons.For instance, FIG. 3 shows a view switching button 352 that allows auser to selectively navigate between the tagging user interface and atag network viewing interface. The tag network viewing interface isdescribed in greater detail in conjunction with FIG. 6.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram depicting an information tag data structure400 used in accordance with at least some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The data structure 400 may include a number of fields thatmay be used in the processes outlined herein. For instance, it isanticipated that the data structure 400 shown may be associated with oneor more automatic expansion and derivative tagging method performed byat least one server 112, 132. In particular, the data structure 400depicted includes a plurality of data fields that contribute, at leastin part, to the process of automatic tag expansion. Examples of suchdata fields include, without limitation, a tag identification (“ID”)field 404, a tag time field 408, a tag relationships field 412, anexpanded tag definitions field 416, an expanded tag relationships field420, an originator field 424, and more 428.

The tag ID field 404 may comprise data used to identify or describe agenerated tag. This identification may be a name, phrase, word, symbol,number, character, and/or combination thereof. In some embodiments, thetag ID may correspond to a particular tag word or phrase that isgenerated automatically or manually. For instance, a conference may beconducted regarding the rollout of “Product X.” In this example, the tagphrase “Product X” may be generated automatically (e.g., based on speechrecognition, context information, etc.) or manually (e.g., entered by auser, etc.) and the tag ID field 404 may contain the actual tag phrase“Project X.” In some embodiments, the tag ID field 404 may be used toorder a tag in relation to other tags generated. In this case, the tagID field 404 may comprise an incremented order value associated with thetags. For example, the third tag generated in a “Weekly Update”conference moderated by “User A” may be stored or identified as “WU UA0003,” where details regarding the conference may make up a portion(e.g., a prefix, etc.) of the tag ID (e.g., “Weekly Update” beingrepresented by “WU,” and “User A” being represented by “UA,” etc.). Theincremental value may be represented by another portion of the tag ID(e.g., “0003,” etc.). Continuing this example, the next sequential tagmay be represented by the incremented tag ID of “WU UA 0004.”

The tag time field 408 may comprise data used to identify a timeassociated with a generated tag. This time may include, but is no waylimited to, a time when the tag was generated, a time in a conferencewhen the tag was generated, a time relevant to the tag in theconference, and/or combinations thereof. For instance, a tag generatedat a particular time of a conference may be used to identify a point intime that the tag was first relevant. By way of example, a webinar maybe conducted where a presenter first discusses “Hardware Elements” of aparticular product two minutes into the conference. In this example, thetag “Hardware Elements” may be associated with the tag time of “twominutes” or “00:02:00.” Among other benefits, providing this time allowsa user to search for the tag and retrieve content that pertinent to thetime and the tag.

The tag relationships field 412 may comprise data used to identifyrelationships between tags and objects or other tags. As describedabove, objects may include users, events, products, people, timing,locations, phrases, organizations, etc. Relationships may be used toconstruct tag networks and/or graphical representations of links betweentags and/or objects.

The expanded tag definitions field 416 may comprise data used inexpanding tags identified in the tag ID field 404. As described herein,tags may be expanded based on relationships, rules, analytics, and/or inaccordance with various expansion ontologies. The expanded tagdefinitions field 416 may comprise pointers to expansion rules, expandedtag information, links to other tags, and/or the like.

The expanded tag relationships field 420 may comprise data used toexpand relationships associated with a particular tag. For instance, auser may wish to view relationships of the tag identified in the tag IDfield 404. However, the relationships defined by the tag relationshipsof field 412 may be narrowly tailored to the precise terminology and/orcontext of the tag contained in the tag ID field 404. In this example,the user may expand relationships for viewing (e.g., in a tag networkviewer, etc.) using the expanded tag relationships information in theexpanded tag relationships field 420. As described herein the expandedtag relationships field 420 may be based on the tag ID and the expandedtag definitions in field 416. For example, a tag in the tag ID field 404may correspond to the “Product X Rollout.” During expansion, theexpanded tag definitions may include other products that are rolled outwith “Product X” (e.g., “Product Y” and “Product Z”). As such, theexpanded tag relationships in field 420 would yield different, andexpanded, connections and links between tags and/or objects includingthe additional products (e.g., especially in the tag network view,etc.).

The originator field 424 may comprise data used to identify anoriginator of a tag. The originator may be an individual, a group, or aserver. For instance, in the case of automatically generated tags, theoriginator field 424 may indicate “AUTO” or some other data to identifythat the originator of the tag is a machine. This information may beused to evaluate, classify, and/or otherwise organize generated tags.Among other things, tags can be organized based on the originator of thetag.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram depicting a tag relationship data structure500 used in accordance with at least some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. As shown, the data structure 500 is presented in the form ofa table that contains several fields that may be used in the variousprocesses outlined herein. For instance, it is anticipated that the datastructure 500 shown may be associated with one or more automaticexpansion and derivative tagging method performed by at least one server112, 132. In particular, the data structure 500 depicted includes aplurality of data fields that contribute, at least in part, to theprocess of automatic tag expansion. Examples of such data fieldsinclude, without limitation, tag identification (“ID”) fields 504, tagdescription fields 508, first object relationship fields 512, secondobject relationship fields 516, and additional object relationshipfields 520. Each tag generated may include entries associated with oneor more fields 504-520 in a specific row 524A-N. For instance, tag ID“ID_1” may include a description of the tag in the tag description field508 associated with the first row 524A (e.g., “Description 1”).

In some embodiments, the tag may be associated with one or more objects(e.g., identified in fields 512-520). As described above, the object maybe a particular conference, user, product, event, time, location,phrase, etc. In FIG. 5, tags “ID_1” and “ID_2” have “Obj. 2” in common,while tags “ID_1” and “ID_3” have “Obj. 1” in common. Among otherthings, this information may be used to determine tag networks, linksbetween tags, links between objects, and graphically render the same,for example, via a tag network viewer to a display of a communicationdevice 108 or server 112, 132.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram depicting a tag network user interface 600 inaccordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure. Theuser interface 600 may include a window 604 that can be presented to adisplay of a communication device 108 or server 112, 132. The window 604may include identification information, application controls, and atleast one viewing area. The viewing area of the window 604 may beseparated into a number of different areas 608, 644. In particular, thewindow 604 may include a tag network viewing area 608 and a participantviewing area 644. The participant viewing area 644 and the contents ofthe viewing area 644 may be similar, if not identical, to theparticipant viewing area 344 described in conjunction with FIG. 3.

The tag network viewing area 608 may include a display area configuredto present information pertinent to one or more connections betweentags, objects, and/or other conference information. The tag networkviewing area 608 may include a number of tags or objects represented asgraphical nodes 612A, 612B, 616A-E, 620. In some embodiments, one ormore of the nodes 612A, 612B, 616A-E, 620 may be connected by links 624.The link 624 may indicate that at least one tag or object is sharedbetween select nodes 612A, 612B, 616A-E, 620. As can be appreciated, thenumber of links 624 shared among nodes 612A, 612B, 616A-E, 620 toobjects or tags indicates a greater connection, relationship, ormotivation between the nodes 612A, 612B, 616A-E, 620.

As shown in the tag network viewing area 608, a first user 612A has aconnection to a first and second conference 616A, 616B. This connectionis illustrated via links 624 connecting the first user 612A node to theconference nodes 616A, 616B. Also shown in FIG. 6 is a connectionbetween the first user 612A and the conferences 616C-E. From thegraphical representation shown in FIG. 6, it is clear that a second user612B has connections to the same conferences 616A-E as the first user612A. The methods and systems described herein may provide additionalconnections, or related connections, based on an automatic expansion oftags generated. For instance, the methods and systems may determinethrough expanding the tags generated in first and second conferences616A, 616B that a common node 620 (e.g., a topic, product, and/or otherobject) exists between the first and second user 612A, 612B. Among otherthings, the methods and systems described herein offer the benefit ofquickly identifying links between one or more objects and/or tags,especially those links that may not otherwise be determined. Forinstance, while the first and second users 612A, 612B do not have adirect connection to node 620, the first and second users 612A, 612B areindirectly connected to the node 620 based on their connection toconference nodes 616A, 616B.

As can be appreciated, displayed information may be filtered, refined,or even further expanded, by selecting one or more nodes 612A, 612B,616A-E, 620, including users 612A, 612B, search terms, tags, etc. InFIG. 6, the first and second users 612A, 612B, are shown as beingselected by having a thicker border surrounding the representativeimages 648A, 648B of the first and second users 612A, 612B when comparedto the other images 648C-N.

The user interface 600 may include one or more view switching buttons.These viewing buttons may be similar, if not identical, to the switchingbuttons described in conjunction with FIG. 3. Similar to view switchingbutton 352, switching button 652 may allow a user to selectivelynavigate between the tag network viewing interface 600 and the tagginguser interface 300.

With reference to FIG. 7, a method 700 of automatically generating tagswill be described in accordance with at least some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The method 700 begins at step 704 and proceeds byanalyzing objects associated with a conference for tag information (step708). The analysis of objects may include analyzing a content of theobjects associated with the conference. For instance, the conference mayinclude audio and/or video content. This content may be analyzed, forexample via the tag management server 132, tag application module 124,and/or combinations thereof. In one example, the analysis may includeutilizing speech recognition mechanisms (e.g., via the speechrecognition engine 216 of the server 132, etc.) to determine a contentof the audio stream. These speech recognition mechanisms may determinetrends or frequencies in spoken content, match spoken content to storedkeywords, match spoken content to other tags, etc. Other informationanalyzed may include object information such as participant information,meeting information, conference information, invitation content, and/orother contextually relevant data. In some embodiments, this analysis maybe performed via the tag generation module 208 and/or the tag contextmodule 212 of the tag management server 132.

The method 700 continues by automatically generating one or more tagsbased on the analysis performed in step 708 (step 712). The tags may begenerated in a particular format, for example, as described inconjunction with FIGS. 4 and 5. This format may include associating thegenerated tags with conference and/or other content (step 716). In oneembodiment, the association may include storing the tag with theconference information. In some embodiments, the association may includestoring the association in the tag itself. The method 700 may then storethe associated tags in a managed tag memory 140. In any event, themethod 700 ends at step 724.

FIG. 8 depicts a first method 800 of expanding tags associated withcommunication information in accordance with at least some embodimentsof the present disclosure. The method 800 begins at step 804 andproceeds by receiving tag information (step 808). In some embodimentsthe tag information may be automatically and/or manually generated. Inone embodiment, the method 800 may receive tag information as it isgenerated, or in real-time. In other embodiments, the tag informationmay be received in non-real-time, for example, at the conclusion of aconference.

Once the tag information is received, the method 800 may proceed bydetermining whether any tag information is included in a tag vocabulary(step 812). For instance, a tag management server 132 may refer to a tagvocabulary memory 136 to compare information about the received tag tostored information for expanding the tag information using languageexpansion. Language expansion and tag vocabulary may include terms thatare known to expand or relate to specific tags or keywords. Forinstance, the phrase “heart attack” may be expanded via use of the tagvocabulary to include the tags or information “cardiac arrest,”“emergency,” “cardiopulmonary,” “blood,” and/or the like. Among otherthings, this tag expansion may account for colloquial or regional termsand phrases and allow similar, if not identical, tags to be included forfurther search, archival, and/or retrieval. For example, a tag of“emergency” or “999” in England may be expanded to include emergencynumbers “911” in North America, “112” in parts of Europe, and/or “000”in Australia, etc.

In the event that tag information is included in the vocabulary, themethod 800 may continue by including the additional, or expanded, taginformation with the tag (step 816). Otherwise the method 800 continuesat step 820. In one embodiment, including the additional, or expanded,tag information may correspond to linking the expanded tag informationto the received tag. In another embodiment, the additional or expandedtag information may be added to the tag itself or a portion thereof. Forinstance, a data structure representing the tag may include one or moreexpanded definition fields. Expanded definition fields are described inconjunction with FIG. 4.

Next, the method 800 may determine whether one or more other sourcesshould be searched and/or accessed to expand a tag (step 820). In somecases, the analysis of a tag or an object associated with the tag mayprovide information that can be used to expand the tag. For example, atag may be associated with a particular object in an organization.However, the tag may include little or no information regarding detailsof the particular object. In this example, the method 800 may refer toone or more organizational-external or organization-internal sources144, 152 to retrieve expanded tag information. If the object is a user,the tag management server 132 may access information from a personneldatabase in an organization-internal source, or social media data froman organizational-external source. This information may include theuser's full name, interests, location, picture, etc. If the objectdefines a location such as “Pensacola,” the tag management server 132may access a map service or organizational-external source to expand thelocation to “Florida.” In any event, the method 800 may continue byexpanding the tags via inclusion or association (step 824). In oneembodiment, including the additional, or expanded, tag information maycorrespond to linking the expanded tag information to the received tag.In another embodiment, the additional or expanded tag information may beadded to the tag itself or a portion thereof. For instance, a datastructure representing the tag may include one or more expandeddefinition fields. Expanded definition fields are described inconjunction with FIG. 4.

The method 800 may proceed by determining relationships between the tagsand/or objects (step 828). These relationships may be based onconnections between tags and objects, associated tags and objects,and/or indirect associations. In some embodiments, the tag informationand/or the object information may be analyzed to determine commonconnections between the various tag and object information. Once therelationships are determined, the method 800 may generate a tag networkthat graphically illustrates the relationship of the tags to one anotheror to objects (step 832). This information may be rendered to a devicedisplay in a similar manner described in conjunction with FIG. 6 (step836). The method 800 ends at step 840.

With reference now to FIG. 9, another method 900 of expanding tagsassociated with communication information will be described inaccordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure. Themethod begins at step 904 and proceeds by receiving one or more manuallyand/or automatically generated tags for objects (step 908). In someembodiments, the tags may be received in real-time, for example, as thetags are generated. The method 900 continues by determining whether thetags should be expanded to include additional information (step 912). Ifnot, the method 900 may end or return to step 908.

In the event that the tags are determined to be expanded, the method 900may continue by determining a particular expansion method and/orontology by which to expand the tags (step 916). Although threedifferent expansion methods or ontologies are shown in FIG. 9, it shouldbe appreciated that expanding tags may include any number tag expansionmethods, ontologies, or combinations thereof. For instance, the tagexpansion method 900 may employ any number of ontologies, contentanalysis, and/or recursive expansion processes as described herein.

A first expansion ontology may include a content-based expansion of thereceived tags. Using this ontology, the method 900 proceeds by analyzingthe content of the tag for any expansion based on the language of thetag (step 920). For instance, the tag may include words or phrases thatcan be analyzed for commonly-used components or combinations. Analysisof commonly-used components can include modifying the tense, prefix(e.g., via addition or subtraction), suffix (e.g., via addition orsubtraction), arrangement (e.g., breaking compound words into structuralroot words, making compound words, etc.), and/or combinations thereofassociated with the tag words or phrases. Additionally or alternatively,the analysis may include adding words or phrases that historically ortypically occur in conjunction with the tag. By way of example, a taglabeled “politics” may be expanded to include “political,” “politician,”“election,” “November,” etc.

Another expansion ontology may include a domain, company, orentity-specific based expansion of the received tags. Using theentity-specific ontology, the method 900 may proceed by analyzing thetag in view of company or entity-specific word or phrase relationships(step 924). For example, the tag may include words or phrases that canbe analyzed for commonly-used components or combinations specific to anentity, company, group, or organization. In one embodiment, thesecommonly-used words or phrases may be maintained in a company relationaldatabase or memory. As an example, a portion of a conversation may betagged with the phrase “Product X Release Event.” In this case, the tagmay be expanded to include a general description of the product, relatedproducts, timing, location, and/or other similarly expanded tags.Examples of expanded tags using this ontology may include, but are in noway limited to, “Product Y,” “Public Release,” “Autumn,” and “Ireland”to name a few. In any event, the expansion of the tags using thisontology may utilize a company-specific (e.g., non-public) set ofrelated words, terms, and/or phrases.

Yet another expansion ontology may include a company and/or domainstructure that is used in conjunction with relationship information toexpand one or more received tags. Using the relationship ontology, themethod 900 may proceed by analyzing the tag in view of company orentity-specific relationships (step 928). For instance, a tag mayinclude words or phrases that can be analyzed for participants, groups,or roles that are specific to a company or domain. In one embodiment,these relationships may be maintained in a company relational databaseor memory. As an example, a portion of a conversation may be tagged withthe phrase “Summer Marketing Meeting.” In this case, the tag may beexpanded to include one or more individuals in a marketing group, asales group, invited participants, timing and/or other similarlyexpanded tags. Examples of expanded tags using this ontology mayinclude, but are in no way limited to, “Sales Group,” “Marketing Group,”“Lake Tahoe,” “team building,” and/or the like. In any event, theexpansion of the tags using this ontology may utilize a company-specific(e.g., non-public) set of related groups, users, words, terms, and/orphrases.

As provided above, and in conjunction with FIG. 8, an expansion ontologymay include a location expansion ontology and/or other expansions withstructure. For example, if a tag includes reference, connection, orother association with a location, the method 900 may continue at step916 by determining to apply a location expansion ontology. It should beappreciated that the location, or other structured, expansion ontologymay be a part of the content-based or other ontology described herein.In some embodiments, the location, or other structured, expansionontology may be separate from the other ontologies described inconjunction with FIG. 9. In any event, it is an aspect of the presentdisclosure that a location expansion ontology may consider locationinformation in expanding tags that are geographically, temporally, orotherwise spatially located to the location information associated witha tag.

Once a particular ontology, or group of ontologies, is applied to thetag during an analysis, the method 900 may continue by storing theexpanded tags in memory (step 932). The expanded tags may be stored in atag memory, in a portion of a tag data structure, and/or associated withan object. The method 900 may continue by determining whether to performan additional tag expansion, for example, using an alternative ontologyor method (step 936). In some embodiments, the additional tag expansionmay be part of a recursive, or repetitive, tag expansion. For example,in one embodiment a recursive or repetitive tag expansion may includeexpanding previously generated tags or first expanded tags generated ina first tag expansion to generate another iteration of expanded tags orsecond expanded tags generated in a second tag expansion and/or so on.By way of example, a mention of “car” may be first expanded to includeone or more expanded tags such as “engine,” “doors,” “windshield,”“tires,” “oil,” “gas,” etc. The method 900 may continue by performinganother iterative round of expansion to expand the first expanded tagsto additionally include second derivative items like “gas station,”“auto glass repair,” “tire stores,” etc. This repetitive and/orrecursive tag expansion may be performed any number of times, oriterations, to further broaden or expand one or more tags or previouslyexpanded tags. If an additional tag expansion method is to be performed,the method 900 repeats after step 912. Otherwise, the method 900 mayproceed to generate a tag network using the tag and/or expanded taginformation (step 940). The tag network may describe relationshipsbetween tags, objects, and/or other conference information. One exampleof a tag network is illustrated in conjunction with FIG. 6.

Any of the steps, functions, and operations discussed herein can beperformed continuously and automatically.

The exemplary systems and methods of this disclosure have been describedin relation to conferences and communication systems. However, to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure, the precedingdescription omits a number of known structures and devices. Thisomission is not to be construed as a limitation of the scope of theclaimed disclosure. Specific details are set forth to provide anunderstanding of the present disclosure. It should, however, beappreciated that the present disclosure may be practiced in a variety ofways beyond the specific detail set forth herein.

Furthermore, while the exemplary embodiments illustrated herein show thevarious components of the system collocated, certain components of thesystem can be located remotely, at distant portions of a distributednetwork, such as a LAN and/or the Internet, or within a dedicatedsystem. Thus, it should be appreciated, that the components of thesystem can be combined into one or more devices, such as a server,communication device, or collocated on a particular node of adistributed network, such as an analog and/or digital telecommunicationsnetwork, a packet-switched network, or a circuit-switched network. Itwill be appreciated from the preceding description, and for reasons ofcomputational efficiency, that the components of the system can bearranged at any location within a distributed network of componentswithout affecting the operation of the system. For example, the variouscomponents can be located in a switch such as a PBX and media server,gateway, in one or more communications devices, at one or more users'premises, or some combination thereof. Similarly, one or more functionalportions of the system could be distributed between a telecommunicationsdevice(s) and an associated computing device.

Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the various links connectingthe elements can be wired or wireless links, or any combination thereof,or any other known or later developed element(s) that is capable ofsupplying and/or communicating data to and from the connected elements.These wired or wireless links can also be secure links and may becapable of communicating encrypted information. Transmission media usedas links, for example, can be any suitable carrier for electricalsignals, including coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiber optics, andmay take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generatedduring radio-wave and infra-red data communications.

While the flowcharts have been discussed and illustrated in relation toa particular sequence of events, it should be appreciated that changes,additions, and omissions to this sequence can occur without materiallyaffecting the operation of the disclosed embodiments, configuration, andaspects.

A number of variations and modifications of the disclosure can be used.It would be possible to provide for some features of the disclosurewithout providing others.

In yet another embodiment, the systems and methods of this disclosurecan be implemented in conjunction with a special purpose computer, aprogrammed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integratedcircuit element(s), an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digitalsignal processor, a hard-wired electronic or logic circuit such asdiscrete element circuit, a programmable logic device or gate array suchas PLD, PLA, FPGA, PAL, special purpose computer, any comparable means,or the like. In general, any device(s) or means capable of implementingthe methodology illustrated herein can be used to implement the variousaspects of this disclosure. Exemplary hardware that can be used for thepresent disclosure includes computers, handheld devices, telephones(e.g., cellular, Internet enabled, digital, analog, hybrids, andothers), and other hardware known in the art. Some of these devicesinclude processors (e.g., a single or multiple microprocessors), memory,nonvolatile storage, input devices, and output devices. Furthermore,alternative software implementations including, but not limited to,distributed processing or component/object distributed processing,parallel processing, or virtual machine processing can also beconstructed to implement the methods described herein.

In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be readilyimplemented in conjunction with software using object or object-orientedsoftware development environments that provide portable source code thatcan be used on a variety of computer or workstation platforms.Alternatively, the disclosed system may be implemented partially orfully in hardware using standard logic circuits or VLSI design. Whethersoftware or hardware is used to implement the systems in accordance withthis disclosure is dependent on the speed and/or efficiency requirementsof the system, the particular function, and the particular software orhardware systems or microprocessor or microcomputer systems beingutilized.

In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be partiallyimplemented in software that can be stored on a storage medium, executedon programmed general-purpose computer with the cooperation of acontroller and memory, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, orthe like. In these instances, the systems and methods of this disclosurecan be implemented as a program embedded on a personal computer such asan applet, JAVA® or CGI script, as a resource residing on a server orcomputer workstation, as a routine embedded in a dedicated measurementsystem, system component, or the like. The system can also beimplemented by physically incorporating the system and/or method into asoftware and/or hardware system.

Although the present disclosure describes components and functionsimplemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standardsand protocols, the disclosure is not limited to such standards andprotocols. Other similar standards and protocols not mentioned hereinare in existence and are considered to be included in the presentdisclosure. Moreover, the standards and protocols mentioned herein andother similar standards and protocols not mentioned herein areperiodically superseded by faster or more effective equivalents havingessentially the same functions. Such replacement standards and protocolshaving the same functions are considered equivalents included in thepresent disclosure.

The present disclosure, in various embodiments, configurations, andaspects, includes components, methods, processes, systems and/orapparatus substantially as depicted and described herein, includingvarious embodiments, subcombinations, and subsets thereof. Those ofskill in the art will understand how to make and use the systems andmethods disclosed herein after understanding the present disclosure. Thepresent disclosure, in various embodiments, configurations, and aspects,includes providing devices and processes in the absence of items notdepicted and/or described herein or in various embodiments,configurations, or aspects hereof, including in the absence of suchitems as may have been used in previous devices or processes, e.g., forimproving performance, achieving ease, and/or reducing cost ofimplementation.

The foregoing discussion of the disclosure has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description. The foregoing is not intendedto limit the disclosure to the form or forms disclosed herein. In theforegoing Detailed Description for example, various features of thedisclosure are grouped together in one or more embodiments,configurations, or aspects for the purpose of streamlining thedisclosure. The features of the embodiments, configurations, or aspectsof the disclosure may be combined in alternate embodiments,configurations, or aspects other than those discussed above. This methodof disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention thatthe claimed disclosure requires more features than are expressly recitedin each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventiveaspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosedembodiment, configuration, or aspect. Thus, the following claims arehereby incorporated into this Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separate preferred embodiment of thedisclosure.

Moreover, though the description of the disclosure has includeddescription of one or more embodiments, configurations, or aspects andcertain variations and modifications, other variations, combinations,and modifications are within the scope of the disclosure, e.g., as maybe within the skill and knowledge of those in the art, afterunderstanding the present disclosure. It is intended to obtain rights,which include alternative embodiments, configurations, or aspects to theextent permitted, including alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalentstructures, functions, ranges, or steps to those claimed, whether or notsuch alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions,ranges, or steps are disclosed herein, and without intending to publiclydedicate any patentable subject matter.

The phrases “at least one,” “one or more,” “or,” and “and/or” areopen-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive inoperation. For example, each of the expressions “at least one of A, Band C,” “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” “oneor more of A, B, or C,” “A, B, and/or C,” and “A, B, or C” means Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, or A, B and C together.

The term “a” or “an” entity refers to one or more of that entity. Assuch, the terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more,” and “at least one” can beused interchangeably herein. It is also to be noted that the terms“comprising,” “including,” and “having” can be used interchangeably.

The term “automatic” and variations thereof, as used herein, refers toany process or operation, which is typically continuous orsemi-continuous, done without material human input when the process oroperation is performed. However, a process or operation can beautomatic, even though performance of the process or operation usesmaterial or immaterial human input, if the input is received beforeperformance of the process or operation. Human input is deemed to bematerial if such input influences how the process or operation will beperformed. Human input that consents to the performance of the processor operation is not deemed to be “material.”

Aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of an embodimentthat is entirely hardware, an embodiment that is entirely software(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module,” or “system.”Any combination of one or more computer-readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer-readable medium may be a computer-readable signalmedium or a computer-readable storage medium.

A computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limitedto, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, orsemiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combinationof the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of thecomputer-readable storage medium would include the following: anelectrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computerdiskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document,a computer-readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that cancontain or store a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

A computer-readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer-readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer-readable signal medium may be any computer-readable medium thatis not a computer-readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program codeembodied on a computer-readable medium may be transmitted using anyappropriate medium, including, but not limited to, wireless, wireline,optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of theforegoing.

The terms “determine,” “calculate,” “compute,” and variations thereof,as used herein, are used interchangeably and include any type ofmethodology, process, mathematical operation or technique.

Examples of the processors as described herein may include, but are notlimited to, at least one of Qualcomm® Snapdragon® 800 and 801, Qualcomm®Snapdragon® 610 and 615 with 4G LTE Integration and 64-bit computing,Apple® A7 processor with 64-bit architecture, Apple® M7 motioncoprocessors, Samsung® Exynos® series, the Intel® Core™ family ofprocessors, the Intel® Xeon® family of processors, the Intel® Atom™family of processors, the Intel Itanium® family of processors, Intel®Core® i5-4670K and i7-4770K 22 nm Haswell, Intel® Core® i5-3570K 22 nmIvy Bridge, the AMD® FX™ family of processors, AMD® FX-4300, FX-6300,and FX-8350 32 nm Vishera, AMD® Kaveri processors, Texas Instruments®Jacinto C6000™ automotive infotainment processors, Texas Instruments®OMAP™ automotive-grade mobile processors, ARM® Cortex™-M processors,ARM® Cortex-A and ARM926EJ-S™ processors, other industry-equivalentprocessors, and may perform computational functions using any known orfuture-developed standard, instruction set, libraries, and/orarchitecture.

The term “means” as used herein shall be given its broadest possibleinterpretation in accordance with 35 U.S.C., Section 112(f) and/orSection 112, Paragraph 6. Accordingly, a claim incorporating the term“means” shall cover all structures, materials, or acts set forth herein,and all of the equivalents thereof. Further, the structures, materialsor acts and the equivalents thereof shall include all those described inthe summary, brief description of the drawings, detailed description,abstract, and claims themselves.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication system, comprising: a server,comprising: a microprocessor; a computer readable medium, coupled to themicroprocessor and comprising instructions stored thereon that cause themicroprocessor to: determine that a tag is associated with digital mediacontent; determine a definition of the tag comprising a type and meaningof the tag; receive a repository of expanded tag definitions from a tagexpansion data source via a database interface that is communicativelycoupled with the server; select, from the repository of expanded tagdefinitions and using the definition of the tag, an expanded tagdefinition for the tag comprising information for expanding searchcriteria related to the tag or the digital media content, wherein thetag expansion data source is an organization-internal data source ownedand managed by an organization providing the digital media content andcomprises private data that is unavailable to entities outside of theorganization; and associating the expanded tag definition with the tagand the digital media content.
 2. The communication system of claim 1,wherein the tag identifies information relevant to the digital mediacontent at particular time of the digital media content.
 3. Thecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the tag expansion data sourceis one or more of an organization-specific member list, anorganization-specific email client, an organization-specific calendar,or a private vocabulary repository hosted by the organization.
 4. Amethod, comprising: receiving, at a processor, a tag associated withdigital media content; determining, via the processor, a definition ofthe tag comprising a type and meaning of the tag; selecting, via theprocessor and using the definition of the tag, an expanded tagdefinition for the tag from a repository of expanded tag definitions,wherein prior to selecting the expanded tag definition, the expanded tagdefinitions are received from a tag expansion data source across acommunication network, wherein the tag expansion data source is anorganization-internal data source owned and managed by an organizationproviding the digital media content and comprises private data that isunavailable to entities outside of the organization, wherein theexpanded tag definition comprises at least one expanded tag, and whereinthe expanded tag definition comprises information for expanding searchcriteria related to the tag or the digital media content; andassociating, via the processor, the expanded tag definition with one ormore of the tag or the digital media content.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein the tag identifies information relevant to the digital mediacontent at particular time of the digital media content.
 6. The methodof claim 4, further comprising: determining, via the processor, tofurther expand the tag by expanding the expanded tag definition;selecting, via the processor and using the expanded tag definition, aderivative expanded tag definition for the expanded tag definition fromthe repository of expanded tag definitions, wherein the derivativeexpanded tag definition comprises information for expanding searchcriteria related to one or more of the tag, the expanded tag definition,or the digital media content; and associating, via the processor, thederivative expanded tag definition with one or more of the tag, theexpanded tag definition, or the digital media content.
 7. The method ofclaim 4, further comprising: generating, via the processor, a tagnetwork based on the tag and the expanded tag, wherein the tag networkdefines a relationship between the tag, the expanded tag, and one ormore of other tags, the digital media content, or other digital mediacontent, and wherein the tag network is configured for rendering as agraphical user interface to a display of a communication device.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the graphical user interface presents therelationship between the tag, the expanded tag, and one or more of othertags, the digital media content, or other digital media content as oneor more graphical links between nodes.
 9. The method of claim 4, whereinthe tag expansion data source is one or more of an organization-specificmember list, an organization-specific email client, anorganization-specific calendar, or a private vocabulary repositoryhosted by the organization.
 10. A server, comprising: a processor; and acomputer-readable medium, coupled with the processor, thecomputer-readable medium comprising instruction sets that are executableby the processor, wherein the instruction sets cause the processor to:analyze digital media content for tag information; determine a tag isgenerated for a portion of the digital media content, wherein the tagcomprises information relevant to a recorded content time of the digitalmedia content; automatically determine a definition of the tag, whereinthe definition comprises a type and meaning of the tag; receive arepository of expanded tag definitions from an expanded tag data source,via a database interface, that is communicatively coupled with theserver, wherein the expanded tag data source is an organization-internaldata source owned and managed by an organization providing the digitalmedia content and comprises private data that is unavailable to entitiesoutside of the organization; select, automatically from a set ofexpanded tags received from the expanded tag data source and using thedefinition of the tag, an expanded tag comprising an expanded definitionfor the tag, wherein the expanded tag definition comprises informationfor expanding search criteria related to the tag or the digital mediacontent; and associate the expanded tag with the tag and the digitalmedia content by storing the expanded tag, a representation of theexpanded tag, and/or a pointer to the expanded tag with the tag and thedigital media content.
 11. The server of claim 10, wherein automaticallydetermining the definition of the tag further causes the processor to:select a particular expansion ontology from a group of expansionontologies stored in a memory, wherein the group of expansion ontologiescomprises two or more of a content-based ontology, an entity-specificontology, or a domain structure ontology, wherein the content-basedontology comprises instruction sets that cause the processor to access astored vocabulary database of commonly-used words associated with thetag, wherein the entity-specific ontology comprises instruction setsthat cause the processor to access a stored entity-specific relationaldatabase of commonly-used words that are associated with the tag andrelated to a particular entity or company, wherein the domain structureontology comprises instruction sets that cause the processor to access astored domain relationship structure ontology database of words thatdefine relationships between entities in a private domain and the tag;analyze information about the tag based on the selected expansionontology; and generate the type and meaning of the tag based on theanalysis of the information about the tag.
 12. The server of claim 10,wherein the expanded tag data source is one or more of a social networksite, a search engine site, a geographical map site, or a publicwebsite.
 13. The server of claim 10, wherein the tag identifiesinformation relevant to the digital media content at particular time ofthe digital media content.
 14. The server of claim 10, wherein theexpanded tag definition is a location tag for accessing a map providerto provide a location context.
 15. The server of claim 14, wherein thelocation context identifies a local service and a state of the localservice.
 16. The server of claim 10, wherein the expanded tag definitionis a language tag that relates to the tag.
 17. The communication systemof claim 1, wherein the expanded tag definition is a location tag foraccessing a map provider to provide a location context.
 18. Thecommunication system of claim 17, wherein the location contextidentifies a local service and a state of the local service.
 19. Thecommunication system of claim 1, wherein the expanded tag definition isa language tag that relates to the tag.
 20. The method of claim 4,wherein the expanded tag definition is a location tag for accessing amap provider to provide a location context.